Batiste was the principal member of the Liberty City Seven, a group of Miami men who conspired to blow up Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI office in Miami. An informant posing as an Al Qaeda operative recorded Batiste making statements about starting a "full ground war" and launching an attack as "good or greater than 9/11." Batiste pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in front of the informant and went along with the plot for an expected $50,000 payout. He was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.